Posts by Neil Petersen
Meditation Apps Can Improve Attention, Memory
It’s sometimes said that our modern tech-driven, smartphone-oriented culture is making us all more distractible and less mindful. So how do meditation apps fit into that criticism? After all, they’re an example of people using technology with the goal of becoming less scattered and more mindful. A recent study led by researchers from University of…
Read More
Bedtime Cues Matter for Teens
How do you know when it’s time to go to bed? Recently, researchers in Australia and Finland looked at how teenagers answer that question, and whether the way they answer it has implications for sleep quality. In a survey of 1,374 adolescents, the researchers considered several different ways these teens might decide when it’s time…
Read More
A Lunchtime Nap Can Boost Children’s Academic Performance
We typically think of it as a bad thing to “fall asleep on the job.” But when your job is learning, a midday nap might be just what the psychologist ordered. A new study of 3,819 elementary school children in China suggests that lunchtime naps are associated with better performance in school. As it turns…
Read More
What’s the Role of Politics in Therapy?
Therapy is a place where anything can come up. The old adage about discussing politics and religion doesn’t necessarily apply. To learn more about how political views fit into the therapeutic process, researchers from New York recently surveyed 268 therapists from around the United States. In case you’re wondering, there’s a good chance your therapist…
Read More
Millennials Don’t Like Being Called Narcissists
Here’s a loaded question for you: how do you feel about being a narcissist? Like the classic example of “when did you stop beating your wife?”, this is a question without a good answer. And it’s more or less what researchers asked young adults in a study designed to test people’s perceptions of different generations’…
Read More
Awe and Self-Transcendence
It’s interesting how many of our everyday concerns look petty when viewed from outer space. Experiences that inspire awe in us can shift our perspective and lead us to look beyond what’s immediately in front of us. The idea that awe changes us was the basis for a recent psychology study in which researchers asked…
Read More
What Do Loneliness and Living Alone Mean for Health Later in Life?
We all know what “loneliness” means, but defining it in a precise way gets a little tricky. For starters, being lonely isn’t exactly the same as being alone. And loneliness isn’t quite the same as social isolation either. When you get down to it, loneliness is about how you feel. Psychologists talk about two kinds…
Read More
People Probably Agree With You Less Than You Think
If there’s one thing people never lack, it’s biases in how we think. One of these biases is what psychologists call the false consensus effect, where people tend to overestimate the extent to which other people share their views. To put it another way, people tend to assume that everyone else thinks the way they…
Read More
Courage Is Key for Entrepreneurs
You need a lot of things to start a business. A good idea, the skills to turn that idea into reality, and some cold, hard cash. Increasingly, psychologists who study entrepreneurship believe you need the right mindset too. They talk about having the “psychological capital” to succeed in a new venture. Psychological capital, or PsyCap…
Read More
A Psychological Profile of the “Class Clown”
When you were in middle school, you could probably name without having to think who the “class clown” was. If you’re a middle school teacher, bless your heart, you can probably do the same. It’s not hard to know who the class clown is, since they’re generally happy to draw attention to themselves. But figuring…
Read More